Interview Questions/ Answers

[squirrelene]

1 hour ago, Hk328 said:

Hey, does anyone know if you're supposed to bring copies of your CV to an interview? I read somewhere that they'll ask for it sometimes, but I only saw it mentioned that 1 time. 

I thought it was helpful to have when I was interviewing with other professors who weren't my POI or in the department to help them quickly get to know me

[clinical_chicana]

So far, I've been to three interviews, all of them have been very casual conversations. I would say to prepare a long list of questions for each interview and an additional list for the graduate students. Be intentional about the questions, let them show your interests and strengths, if possible. 

Questions I've been asked at all interviews: 

• How do you plan to deal with the stress and high demands of the program? 
• Why clinical psychology and why a PhD? (or whatever program you're applying to)
• What will you add to the lab/ POI's research? 

 

[1|]010ls10o]

3 hours ago, Hk328 said:

Hey, does anyone know if you're supposed to bring copies of your CV to an interview? I read somewhere that they'll ask for it sometimes, but I only saw it mentioned that 1 time. 

I handed out 4 copies of my CV, only one faculty member glanced at it. The others just went straight to the questions.

[bubble_psych]

Hey guys, not sure if this has been answered already, but how much should we know about research interests for faculty that will be interviewing us, but are not the POI at a PhD program interview?

[SocialPsycNerd]

12 hours ago, dr. bubbles said:

Hey guys, not sure if this has been answered already, but how much should we know about research interests for faculty that will be interviewing us, but are not the POI at a PhD program interview?

I recommend familiarizing yourself with their work, but don't worry about getting too in-depth (unless it's super interesting!). Most of the people you are interviewing with aren't going to discuss their own research; they want to hear about you! That said, if you choose to go in-depth, it definitely gives you something to talk about

[wnk4242]

On 2018/2/7 at 8:59 PM, dr. bubbles said:

Hey guys, not sure if this has been answered already, but how much should we know about research interests for faculty that will be interviewing us, but are not the POI at a PhD program interview?

You definitely need to read their profiles on the program website (if they have their own sites, you should also read them). Don't need to get too in-depth. Just get a general idea about what they do. 

Edited February 9, 2018 by wnk4242

[peter45]

1 hour ago, wnk4242 said:

You definitely need to read their profiles on the program website (if they have their own sites, you should also read them). Don't need to get too in-depth. Just get a general idea about what they do. 

Seconded, and maybe try to find an interest you both share so that you can steer the conversation into comfortable territory. Or, if there isn't much overlap, try to focus on aspects of your research that might be really intriguing to someone outside of your specific field. 

[Quantitative_Psychology]

On 2/7/2018 at 7:59 PM, dr. bubbles said:

Hey guys, not sure if this has been answered already, but how much should we know about research interests for faculty that will be interviewing us, but are not the POI at a PhD program interview?

I would note that perhaps the best interview I had with someone outside of my POI was when I was able to ask the professor to tell me more about his research in XXXX area using XXXX model. He got really excited that I wanted to talk about this model he had designed with one of his graduate students (he pulled out slides from his computer and everything), and I got to participate in a conversation with way less pressure. We even got to theorize on different directions the research could go and different applications of the model. It pays to know enough to ask one of the questions, but you don't need to know everything. In fact, you may only need to know one thing (e.g., he may be interested in and publish in XXX1, XXX2, XXX3, and XXXX4, but I ask/talk about XXX3).

[Quantitative_Psychology]

6 minutes ago, StudiestStudy said:

Do you think if I cried during my interview it will reflect negatively on me? I think all the stress and nerves caught up to me and then we were talking about a sensitive topic for me. I did really in my interview before I cried and I was able to recover quickly. 

Was the person you were interviewing with understanding or were they more awkward about it?

Some people are way more understanding about crying than others. It definitely isn't ideal because there are some professors who would worry that you'd come crying often when things get stressful/hard in graduate school. On the other hand, some professors are very understanding about the pressures you are feeling and might brush it off without a major problem. You may be able to judge how the individual felt about it based on their initial reaction.

[psych0]

3 hours ago, StudiestStudy said:

Do you think if I cried during my interview it will reflect negatively on me? I think all the stress and nerves caught up to me and then we were talking about a sensitive topic for me. I did really in my interview before I cried and I was able to recover quickly. 

What was the topic? How did it come up? I'm thinking it would unfortunately reflect poorly unless they brought up or asked an inappropriate question.

[StudiestStudy]

The professor was pretty relaxed about. We talked about why and she seemed pretty cool about it. We were talking about the military which is close to home for me because I grew up in a military family. I was doing fine holding back from crying until she asked me why I was getting choked up. 

[psych0]

41 minutes ago, StudiestStudy said:

The professor was pretty relaxed about. We talked about why and she seemed pretty cool about it. We were talking about the military which is close to home for me because I grew up in a military family. I was doing fine holding back from crying until she asked me why I was getting choked up. 

What school was this if you don't mind me asking?

[StudiestStudy]

Does anyone have any experience with group interviews? I've heard that one of my interviews is going to be a group interview and I want to be prepared.